Holly, myself, Jane, Daisy and Matt Argyle piled in the van and and drove down to the BSUPA National championships at Watergate bay, last weekend.

Neil was already down there with Scott, and the forecast looked pretty amazing for the weekend - sunshine, light offshore winds, and a 2 to 4 foot forecast.

50 competitors were divided up into heats of 4 or 5 and each had 15 minutes to cut some shapes on the wave face. A panel of 3 judges would then score each wave ridden with a max of 2 best waves to get maximum points.

All the top seeds were put across the the first round heats and the double reportage format meant the losers in each heat would get another chance.

I managed to get third place in my first heat against the junior champ Aaran Rowe and Adam Zervas ­but got 4th place in my second round - so that was it for me! I quickly realized how different you have to ride and how much you have to up your game when your in a comp.

Holly was in two rounds of the ladies and was the first placed Junior girls under 16.

Neal lost his first round and battled back through nearly two hours of heats and rode really hard to get 4th place overall in a close run final.

I have to say we all had great weekend riding some very decent waves ­and the atmosphere down at Watergate Bay was awesome. Holly manned up lots and got into some decent waves and we will definitely be back there for 2012.